Me, you and the world

My new winter coat (made by me)

A few weeks ago I mooched down to Brighton with my Cambridgeshire friend. I do love that place! So many cute little boutiques down hidden alleys and such quirky vintage stores! Anyway, I came across this fabric shop called Ditto fabrics and decided to slip inside. I was in need of fabric to make some new clothing with and there on a table were bundles and bundles of end of lines fabrics which were screaming to be bought and made into something gorgeous.

The first thing I spotted was this gorgeous blue and yellow plaid ( I do adore plaid) which wanted very much to be made into a lovely jacket for winter, then I spotted 3 different bundles of jersey material that needed to be made into pretty long sleeved dresses! I also came home with some light cotton floral material for a blouse :).

Promising myself a lazy weekend this weekend I did nothing but read my book until lunch then got drawn in by my materials to make something out of them.

The end result is this coat made from a modified 90’s Vogue pattern; it took 3 toiles for it turn out perfect enough to cut the final fabric.

Toile 1 was made out of original pattern to see how I could modify it to make it fit better; there was fabric enough for the huge padded shoulders and tiny waist which was the style of the time. These I reduced down by measuring my shoulders and cutting the shoulders down to fit and pulling the jacket up so that the side panels fitted appropriately against my bust and shoulder blades. This involved me straightening up the seams on the side panels to get rid of the bulky material giving the jacket a more tailored fit.

Toile 2 was where I recut the calico with the changes made above to see how the fit was improved then

Toile 3 was me adding length to the jacket to make it cover a bit more on colder days

Modifying patterns is easy if you no how and undertaking the making of a jacket yourself requires prior experience of making such things to succeed and some understanding of how to fit a lining (I made a unlined blazer at college).

Me being a rebel I love that the plaid doesn’t match up properly making it seem much more punky! I also ran out of material hence it being made out of many different fabrics, I love it though! All in all it took about 1 day to make the coat from toiling to finish and cost around £15 for all the materials

If you are interested in the making of the coat I have posted a few photos below of it at various stages

What I used;

Large table

2 metres of plaid

2 metres of material for lining (preferably something silky but I used cotton and jersey for warmth)

1 metre of fabric for contrast collar and back lining1 metre of interfacing for collar and lapels